


Tell Me I Am Yours

by Yeoyou



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, background pre-relationship Julie/Luke/Reggie, idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29516373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeoyou/pseuds/Yeoyou
Summary: Alex hates going to parties on his own but this one may prove to be an exception when he accidentally acquires a hot fuck buddy. Problem is, he's falling in love with him.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 114





	Tell Me I Am Yours

**Author's Note:**

  * For [where_you_go](https://archiveofourown.org/users/where_you_go/gifts).



> So the awesome where_you_go posted a prompt [ficlet](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28835535/chapters/70728333) (Chapter 5 in her prompt [collection](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28835535/chapters/70727517)) that is, as they say, living rent-free in my brain. And it's not a very quiet tenant. Her version of Alex in that college AU is a bit more of a bastard than we're used to (though still loving his friends of course) and for some reason, it's absolutely amazing. We got to talking about the Willex origin story in that AU and her thoughts on it and then she graciously allowed me to write it because she's awesome! So, here's me trying to prove that bastard and disaster can coexist in the same gay.
> 
> I hope you enjoy it, hunny, and that it's at least close to what you pictured!! Thank you so much, again, for letting my muse play with this!

This had been a stupid idea. That much was apparent the moment Brad opened the door for Alex and called him Patrick, his breath smelling overpoweringly of alcohol and cheese puffs.

Alex did not like attending parties on his own when he hardly knew any of the people there, which meant this one was going to be a pain. Luke and Reggie had ditched him last minute because they totally lost all brain cells the moment Julie Molina so much as spoke to them and agreed to everything she said, promising to come to Dirty Candy's gig this Saturday even though they had promised to come to this party with Alex _first_! Sometimes he really hated his friends!

They had tried to convince him to blow the party off too— _there will be a hundred more parties, Alex, we just started college and have all year to get drunk on someone else's alcohol!_ —but Alex's social anxiety and pride acted up. He was not going to be the one just not showing up to something he had agreed to do. His friends might have no qualms about that but Alex was _better_ than that.

Which, unfortunately, meant he was currently also more miserable than them.

Because Brad, though Alex had briefly thought him kind of cute, was obviously way too drunk to either care or remember whether Alex had actually been at his party.

He could have just turned around and left to curl up with a book at home but the boys were sure to ask him about the party tomorrow so he might as well stick it out for a bit, have a beer or two, and maybe his stupid brain would even let him dance at some point.

* * *

His stupid brain did not let him dance and an hour later, he found himself on a tiny balcony with the spare drinks being kept cool in the cold night air, nursing his third beer of the evening and hating everything, including but not limited to Luke and Reggie, college, parties, himself, beer, Julie Molina's magnetism, Brad, himself (that one definitely deserved double mention), and the universe in general in case he'd forgotten something to hate.

He was rudely interrupted in his hating by another person stumbling onto the balcony and Alex bit back the biting remark, remembering just in time that he had no actual rights to the sole ownership of the balcony, and then lost all ability to speak anyway because the guy was utterly gorgeous! Shirt half unbuttoned, strands of hair spilling out of the messy bun at his nape, white teeth glinting in the moonlight, and cheekbones to die for!

He was also a bit tipsy, from the looks of it, but so was Alex so he couldn't judge.

The guy giggled adorably and introduced himself as Willie a moment later, holding out his hand.

Alex shifted the bottle from his right hand to his left, wiped the condensation from his palm onto his hoodie and shook the offered hand. He could have sworn sparks were flying and was quite proud of himself when his voice didn't even waver as he said his own name. Maybe it was a bit hoarse but he doubted Willie noticed.

Alex caught himself thinking something utterly stupid like _his smile could light up the whole world_ when Willie grinned at him, and then decided that as long as he didn't say it out loud, he didn't care because fuck, Willie was so beautiful it was basically criminal.

If he'd had more than just the two and a half beers, Alex might have been tempted to think his brain had made up this vision but since the vision's handshake still lingered warm in Alex's palm, and Alex sincerely doubted his imagination could have come up with anyone even half as strikingly gorgeous, Willie was probably real. Even if that seemed completely impossible.

They had spoken maybe three sentences when Willie casually asked, flicking his eyebrows up, "Do you want to go fuck at my place?" and once Alex's brain restarted, he had another internal debate whether this was really happening (plus trying to remember the signs of heart attacks and evaluating whether he was currently suffering from one). But then, if it wasn't real, he certainly had no desire to wake up, and if it was... well, weren't college parties all about hooking up? Plus, he'd really like to rub it in Luke's and Reggie's stupid faces that he had hooked up with a complete (smoking hot) stranger on his first party, while they simped over Julie and probably hadn't gotten any further with her than adoring her from a distance.

Besides, he was pretty sure that he was physically incapable of saying no to anything Willie asked of him. Especially if it had to do with fucking.

So Alex said yes.

And Willie smiled and took his hand.

* * *

Willie didn't live far away, luckily, because Alex's brain was caught in a loop of _I'm gonna have sex with this hot dude_ while stumbling after him and if he'd had to take it any longer, it might have exploded.

As it was, it nearly exploded anyway the moment Willie closed the door of his apartment behind them and kissed Alex hungrily.

The next thing Alex knew was that he'd had Willie pinned to the wall, kissing the breath right out of him. Or maybe it was the other way round but who cared when kissing Willie felt like the best thing he'd ever done, even better than a post-gig high with music and adrenaline running rampant in his veins.

Alex decided right there and then that going to the party had been an excellent idea after all, so screw you Luke and Reggie!

Soon after, all coherent thoughts were thoroughly fucked out of him.

* * *

Waking up to a very naked, softly snoring Willie the following morning was an eye-opener in a couple of ways. For one, Alex was almost convinced that Willie could not be as pretty as his drunk mind had made him out to be but a quick look at Willie's face proved that yes, he was indeed just as pretty, if not even more beautiful in the sunlight filtering in through half-drawn curtains, making his skin and hair glow in a way that was simply unfair because Alex felt decidedly un-glowy.

The second eye-opener happened as he chanced to glance at Willie's alarm clock and realised that he was already running late for band practice, that Reggie had almost certainly noticed Alex not spending the night in their apartment, and that he really needed a shower (and new clothes) and something to eat to stave off the headache creeping into his brain, because that would go fucking perfect with playing loud music for hours.

He scrambled out of the bed, trying not to wake Willie, collected his clothes as well as he could (one sock stubbornly eluded him and he _did not_ have the time to chase it any longer), scribbled a hasty "Thanks, Alex" onto the backside of some party flyer, and placed it on Willie's pillow.

Truth be told, Alex didn't really know much about college party hook up etiquette but he didn't want to just disappear without a word.

It was only when he towelled off after a hasty shower back at his place, a piece of toast crammed between his teeth, that he realised that he didn't even have Willie's number.

* * *

As expected, his friends teased him mercilessly once he arrived at their studio but Alex refused to be ashamed and instead smiled smugly as he told them about Willie. Okay, so maybe his cheeks were a bit flushed but that was just because he'd run most of the way.

The smile only faltered as they asked him whether he was going to see Willie again and wanted more information about him than just that he was gorgeous since, apart from Willie being a phenomenal kisser and _really_ good in bed, Alex didn't know the first thing about him!

"Did you at least take a picture of him?"

Alex scoffed. "While he was sleeping? Don't be a creep, Patterson!"

Only he kind of wished he had taken one just so he could shove it into the guys' faces and prove that a) the whole thing had happened in the first place and he had _not_ ended up drunk in a ditch, thank you very much, and b) that Willie was indeed more beautiful than should be legally allowed.

Eventually, he remembered the party flyer though. He only had a vague recollection of it from before he'd turned it over to scrawl his goodbye message onto the back but he was sure he would recognise it if he saw it around campus again. And maybe, just maybe, Willie would be there.

So instead of concentrating on his lessons in the crucial first weeks of college, he made it his mission to find the stupid flyer and when he did, he forced Luke and Reggie to swear on their instruments to go to the party with him, threatening them with ending their friendship if they dared ditch him again.

* * *

The party was crowded. Even more so when Alex and the guys arrived because Luke and Reggie had brought Julie with them who had dragged Flynn with her who had talked Carrie into joining them as well. They shoved their way through the crowded hallway, Alex sincerely regretting the hot dogs they'd eaten before because his was currently break dancing in his stomach and he felt more like yakking into a bowl than meeting the man of his dreams again.

And then he saw him.

Willie was once more a vision, dancing in one of the rooms to the music blasting from the speakers— _Julie and the Phantoms_ was much better by the way!—huge grin on his face and obviously having a blast.

Alex only realised that he'd stopped rather abruptly when Carrie's complaints reached his ears.

Luke was looking from Alex to the dance floor and back, eyebrows raised.

"Is that him?"

Since Willie was the only long-haired guy with breathtaking beauty around, it wasn't hard to figure out.

Alex nodded stiffly, unable to take his eyes off Willie. The dude had _moves_! Not that Alex didn't already know that from quite a different context.

"He's _hot_!" Reggie exclaimed, slack-jawed and the rest of Alex's friends nodded, looking equally stunned.

"Well of course he's hot! I've only told you so a dozen times!"

"More like a hundred." Flynn rolled her eyes.

"Yeah but ... he's _really_ hot." Luke sounded slightly awed.

Alex frowned. "You think he's too good for me?"

Never mind that that was exactly what Alex himself thought. Faced with the real guy again, Alex had a hard time all over believing that he'd really been so lucky to have had sex with him, even though their night had been playing basically on a loop inside his head for these whole two weeks, completely wrecking his ability to concentrate on his studies and doubling his shower time.

Luke's eyes widened and he stammered a protest.

Alex sighed. "Oh fuck off."

In that precise moment, Willie caught sight of him and grinned, coming to a sudden stop in his dancing.

"Seriously, fuck off," Alex hissed out of the corner of his mouth because he did _not_ need his weirdo friends witnessing this. Whatever it would be.

He ignored the laughter and registered with relief that they were indeed moving on (though probably not far), as Willie came bounding up to him.

"Hey, Alex!"

Alex cleared his throat, trying (and failing) to appear casual.

"Hey, Willie. Good to see you again."

Willie smirked.

"Yeah, you left rather early. But I appreciated the note."

He waggled his eyebrows and if Alex hadn't been so absolutely rooted to the spot, he'd probably have kissed him right then and there. Instead, he just laughed awkwardly.

God, Luke and the others would never let him hear the end of this if he didn't step up his game!

"Yeah, I was ... uhm, late for a thing. I'm sorry about the sock I left though. I couldn't find it and was running out of time."

 _Real smooth, Alex_. He could basically hear Carrie roll her eyes.

But Willie just giggled in that utterly adorable way of his.

"Don't worry. I've kept it so ..." He shrugged. "If you wanted to maybe pick it up some time?"

"Uh, sure ..."

Willie did that thing with his eyebrows again that was driving Alex absolutely crazy.

"Now would work for me if you don't have anything better to do?"

"N-no. Not really." Alex swallowed. "You sure you don't want to stay and dance some more? You looked like you were having a good time."

Willie grinned.

"Nah, found something better to do. Or ... someone."

Having his brain explode was apparently becoming a familiar feeling whenever he was around Willie. Alex did not complain.

* * *

In Alex's opinion, though he had not thought it possible, this second night was even better than the first. Maybe because he wasn't inebriated this time and could savour every second —though Willie being slightly tipsy again helped, or perhaps he was just naturally uninhibited. Or it was because he was just so fucking happy at actually having found Willie again through his sleuthing and got to kiss him again (and do other things).

And this time, Alex didn't have to leave straight away in the morning.

This time, he got his phone number.

* * *

It became a recurring thing, Willie and him hooking up for the best sex Alex had ever had, though they skipped the parties beforehand now they had a way to actually contact each other.

Sometimes they just met up for a quick tumble in the sheets, sometimes Alex stayed the night and they spent the next day playing video games or watching a movie or getting take away food.

Alex thought they were probably friends now. With definite benefits.

The trouble was, he wanted more than just being Willie's fuck buddy, even though he was grateful every day that he had went to stupid Brad's party and found Willie. He wanted to kiss him while they made breakfast, he wanted to hold his hand, and cuddle up to him, and do all the stupid kitschy things couples did who were in love.

Because Alex was very much in love.

And that was a problem.

Because Willie didn't appear to be.

* * *

Alex could tell that his friends were torn between real sympathy and laughing their asses off because Alex had a hot fuck buddy problem, and really, could he blame them? He never thought he'd even be the type to _have_ a fuck buddy, let alone one so hot and cute at the same time that it's driving him mental.

And it wasn't like Willie didn't like him, because Alex was pretty sure he did. He just hadn't made any indication that he wanted more out of this, that he cared about Alex beyond friendship and sex. And Alex tried so hard to convince himself that it was enough, that it was already more than he could ask for but as the weeks passed by he just got stressed out by it more and more. He was almost sure that pining from afar would have been less difficult than getting to kiss Willie and touch him and be with him, without being able to reveal how deep his feelings for him actually ran.

So basically, he was a complete mess.

And then Carrie suggested a solution that was both ludicrous and genius: "It's obvious. If you don't want to give Willie up, you need another hot fuck buddy to distract you from this one."

She shrugged and moved on to detailing exactly which toppings she wanted on her pizza.

Alex highly doubted the validity of the plan but the boys ran with it and whenever someone just mildly attractive (and male) crossed their paths, they urged Alex to ask the guy out.

It was annoying, to say the least, but to be fair, it was also distracting.

And finally, he relented, and when Dave from his composition class asked him out on a date, he accepted.

* * *

The date was fine, Alex supposed. Dave was cute in a nerdy way, they had shared interests, and he was _nice_. But he wasn't Willie. Every time Dave smiled shyly at him, Alex was missing Willie's dimpled grin; every time he said something perfectly reasonable, Alex was missing Willie coming up with the most random fake facts just to get a laugh out of Alex.

For the last twenty minutes, Alex had racked his brain how he could let Dave down gently and he was still pondering it when they got up from their booth at the coffee shop and Dave leaned in to kiss him full on the mouth.

It wasn't a bad kiss, probably, but it just felt so wrong to Alex it shocked his brain into a total freeze.

And then he heard Willie's voice:

"What the fuck, Alex?"

He whirled around and just caught sight of Willie storming out of the shop, a flutter of long, dark hair, the angry tingle of the bell, and Alex's stomach plummeted.

"Who was—"

Dave sounded utterly confused and Alex felt like an asshole but he didn't have time for any explanations. He said a quick sorry and was halfway to the door when he remembered the bill, hastened back, throwing some cash, that was probably way too much, onto the table with another "sorry" and bolted out of the coffee shop after Willie.

* * *

In the three minutes or so it took Alex to find him, Alex was getting pretty close to freaking out. What the fuck had just happened?

And then he spotted Willie hunched on a bench, knees drawn up to his chin, arms wrapped around his legs.

"Willie," Alex yelled and ran over before coming to a sudden halt. Fuck, was Willie crying?

He eased himself slowly onto the bench next to Willie.

"Willie?"

Willie sniffled, wiping his face on his sleeve. His voice cracked as he answered:

"I know we never talked about being exclusive but ... I assumed ... I mean, it's more something you talk about when you _don't_ plan to be exclusive, isn't it?"

"But ... we're not even dating," Alex stammered, completely bewildered.

Willie's head shot up. "We're not?"

"Are we?"

"What did you think this was?"

"But ... we haven't even been on a date?"

"Did you want to?"

"Yes. No. I mean ... I don't know?"

Willie stared at him, eyes wide, while a mixture of incredulity and mortification flickered across his face. He jumped to his feet.

"Shit. Fuck. I'm ... God, I'm such an idiot, I should have known that you'd never want to date me—"

"Hey! Whoa, wait a moment!" Alex caught Willie by his sleeve, afraid he'd run off again. "What do you mean _I_ wouldn't want to date _you_?"

Instead of answering, Willie just shrugged unhappily.

"So," his voice was small, "you've been dating all this time while I thought we were together?"

Alex pushed his hair out of his face, still trying to mentally catch up. He tugged on Willie's sleeve until he sat down again.

"Uhm, no ... this was," Alex waved vaguely back in the direction of the coffee shop, "the first date, actually. I was ... uhm, trying to get over you."

Willie's brows shot up.

"Over me?"

Alex cleared his throat. "Yeah ... because I thought ... uh," he fiddled with his rings, "that you didn't want to date me and it was driving me insane. But," he lifted his head, meeting Willie's confused gaze, "if you _thought_ we were already dating, that means ... okay, I'm obviously a complete idiot, but ... would you still like to date me? Exclusively?"

"I ... well, _yes_ , but ..."

Alex was waiting for Willie who was obviously still struggling.

"How could you think we were not dating?" he eventually burst out.

Alex started fiddling again, colour creeping into his cheeks.

"I thought we were just ... you know," he lowered his voice and ducked his head, "fuck buddies."

" _Fuck buddies_?!" Willie exclaimed loudly and Alex shot a worried glance around but nobody seemed to have taken much notice.

"Yeah, you know. Just having casual sex and occasionally hanging out? We never ... I mean, we never did any real couple stuff?"

"Define couple stuff."

Alex squirmed. "You know ... the _cuddly_ stuff. Touching each other outside of sex."

"We literally touch all the time though?"

"Yeah but ... just in a buddy way."

Willie drew his brows together. "You have weird buddies."

Alex couldn't really argue because that was true. And now he came to think of it, he and the guys probably did a lot more casual touching than your average male college students.

"Yeah but not ..." He curled his finger around Willie's pinky, drawing his hand into his lap, flushing even more. "Didn't you wonder about that?"

Willie shrugged. "I just thought you weren't the type or needed more time or something."

"No, I'm ... I'm definitely the type." Alex brought Willie's hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss onto his knuckles, before clearing his throat. "I'm probably going to be super annoying actually so if you want out, I guess this is your chance."

Willie's face lit up.

"Alexander Mercer, don't tell me you're a romantic!"

Alex scrunched up his face. "I think we've established pretty firmly that I'm an idiot."

Willie leaned closer, fingers tangling with Alex's.

"Well, but then, so am I."

He smiled and Alex bit his lip.

"So that means ...?"

Willie giggled.

"Yes, Alex, we are _officially_ dating now."

Alex smiled back and then closed the distance between them to kiss Willie, slow and soft, and so different from all their previous hungry kisses. There would be times for those again but right now, he just wanted to get lost in kissing his _boyfriend_!

* * *

Of course the others broke into riotous laughter the moment Alex told them all about it and Flynn had such a bad attack of the giggles she nearly fainted from lack of oxygen. But no matter how embarrassing this whole thing was—and he knew they wouldn't let him live this down for probably ever—at least he'd figured things out and now had a smoking hot boyfriend while the other disasters still hadn't gotten any further and were depressingly single.

So all in all, he felt pretty good about himself. Especially whenever he went anywhere with Willie and was able to introduce him as his boyfriend. Now if only he could convince his parents that he and Willie were together and that he was most definitely not interested in any of the nice church girls they kept shoving at him during Sunday dinners!

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it and have not yet read where_you_go's [ficlet](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28835535/chapters/70728333), please do so immediately!! Although if you stuck around long enough to leave a kudos and maybe a nice comment before moving on, that would be much appreciated of course ;D


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